Root’s England looks to turn things around
England will start a new era when Joe Root leads the Test side out for the first time in the first of four games against South Africa at Lord’s on Thursday.
Root was named captain by the England and Wales Cricket Board in February after Alastair Cook stepped down, but England has only played white-ball cricket since. This will be its first Test assignment since the 0-4 drubbing in India last winter, and the host is confident that Root, 26, will be as prolific and successful as his Australian and Indian counterparts, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli respectively.
"The way Rooty goes about his cricket, he's nice and positive the way he bats,” said Trevor Bayliss, England's Australia-born coach. “I suspect the way he will captain the team will be similar,"
Root faces the unenviable task of restoring England’s Test fortunes after a miserable 2016 when it lost eight Tests, including a first ever defeat in Bangladesh. He will, however, take heart from the fact that the ultra-successful new-ball pairing of James Anderson, England’s leading Test wicket-taker, and Stuart Broad have been declared fit to lead the attack alongside Mark Wood, the express paceman from Durham.
England have also opted to play Liam Dawson as a second spin option alongside Moeen Ali, making Toby Roland-Jones wait just a little longer to make his debut.
While Cook will continue to soldier on as an opening batsman, his partner is expected to be Keaton Jennings, born in South Africa and who made a hundred on Test debut in Mumbai, also last December.
Gary Ballance, the left-hand batsman, has forced his way back into the side after piling on the runs for Yorkshire, even though his last six Test innings have yielded just 49 runs in total. The Zimbabwe-born Ballance played the last of his 21 Tests in Bangladesh in October last year.
Even though it is without regular skipper Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, who has taken a sabbatical from the longest format, and Dale Steyn, its pace spearhead, South Africa will be no pushover. One of the best travellers in the world, South Africa has remarkably lost just one away series in the last 10 years.
With du Plessis missing, it will be led at Lord’s by Dean Elgar, the 30-year-old left-hand opening batsman. Du Plessis, who became a father for the first time recently, is expected to be back for the second Test starting in Nottingham on July 14.
"He is a gutsy player," Russell Domingo, the South Africa coach, said of Elgar. "He epitomises South African cricket to the tee."
While South Africa had a difficult start to this tour, it will take heart from the fact that on its last visit to England five years back, it won the Test series 2-0. On this tour, it has lost both the One-Day International and Twenty20 International series by identical 1-2 scorelines, either side of a first-round exit at the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
Despite missing Steyn, South Africa has a potent pace attack. Morne Morkel is renowned for how well he bowls to left-hand batsmen -- England will have several in its top order -- and Vernon Philander is a proven performer in English conditions while Kagiso Rababa is a rising star.
South Africa’s problems revolve more around its batting, with Heino Kuhn in line for a Test debut to open the batting alongside Elgar. Hashim Amla, the vastly experienced No. 3 who made South Africa's highest individual Test score of 311 not out at The Oval in 2012, looms as the key figure, particularly in du Plessis’ temporary absence.
TEAMS (LIKELY):
England: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (capt), Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Liam Dawson, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Mark Wood.
South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt), Heino Kuhn, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel.